Sympathy No 11
by The 21st Century Pendragon
Summary: Lincoln truly loves his sisters but his personal life threatens to ruin it. And out of the shadows manifests his demons he can never defeat and can wipe away his family in a fade.


Here is another one-shot for the week. I will also be releasing a Luna-centered story before my three-days vacation. And after that, I will be releasing the last part of "Lincoln Loud's Eleven Commitments in the Loud House" and more chapters for "The Thing from Upstairs" before I go for hiatus in the first and second week of November.

For that, I need thoughts and suggestions for the following story ideas I have in mind:

• Lincoln as an infant, in a _Rugrats_ -like scenario.

• The Loud siblings getting a major makeover.

• Another Luna- centered story giving homage to the Richard Linklater movie _Dazed and Confused_.

• Lori about to get ready for college.

• Any of the Loud sisters being set up for a date.

But hope you get to enjoy this emotional piece!

Disclaimer: I do not own **_The Loud House_**. Yet, I want to applaud creator Chris Savino for crafting a fine escapist animated series that truly reinvigorated my aspirations to work for the animation industry.

* * *

It is a day after school, and Lincoln walks back to his humble abode, seated by the simple suburbs of Royal Woods, Michigan. He is kind of gaily, as of the moment. Normally as he puts it, his strolling mood would really depend on the scenario he faced at his classes. But the Lincoln we are seeing currently is rather joyous. He is even whistling the first tunes of the Sherman brothers Disney classic "Bare Necessities" in the movie _The Jungle Book_.

As he enters the house, Lincoln spots Lori passing by. "Hey Lori, look stunning today," Lincoln compliments his sister.

"Oh, really?" Lori feels flattered, "Wait. Don't tell me you're saying this, just so I can do favors for you?"

"No really, I mean it," Lincoln replies, "Love the new eye shadow by the way. Baby blue fits on you."

This compliment makes Lori feel even more flattered. "Oh thanks little brother. Glad someone appreciates my new makeover. Unlike others there." She then walks off, not before patting Lincoln's head.

Afterwards, Lincoln comes across his jokester sister Luan. "Oh hey Luan!" Lincoln greets.

"Hey there, Lincoln!" Luan responds.

"Luan, I got a punchline. What is a criminal's best asset?"

"What is it?"

"His lie-ability. Get it?"

"Oh, that's a clever one Linc. Keep on going with it."

And with a smile, Lincoln walks upstairs. He then comes across Lucy, who is seen sulking at her bedroom.

"Lucy, something wrong?" the 11-year-old asks.

"I just learned that Edwin's storyline will reach to an end. Here is his second to the last book." Lucy then hands over her own copy of the 2nd to the last Edwin paperback novel to Lincoln. "I don't know what I supposed to do, now that his story will be finished."

Lincoln then suggests, "Well, at least you know that you will love Edwin forever. But there are more novels you can try reading to tickle your gothic taste buds." He suddenly remembers that he has a young-adult gothic novel he can lend to Lucy. "Hey, know what? I got one that you might just like." He then pulls out that YA novel and show it to Lucy.

" _Madame Sparrow's Shelter for Supernatural Students_." Lucy reads the title.

"It has everything. Monsters, ghouls, vampires, spirits and even shape-shifters. I definitely recommend that."

"Well, might as well give it a try," Lucy says, "Thanks big brother."

"Anything for my dear sister," Lincoln says with a rub on her hair.

Lincoln then walks out of the room to see a tennis ball ricocheting through the halls and grasp it in his hands. Immediately, he knows who the ball belongs to.

"Oh, Lynn!" Lincoln calls out his athletic sister, who approaches to him like a dog.

"Linc, pass the ball! Pass the ball!" Lynn insists in a childlike manner.

"You want the ball?" Lincoln plays along, "Then fetch!" With that, Lincoln swings the bright yellow ball across the hall.

Proceeding to his room, Lincoln notices smoke coming from Lisa and Lily's room, which he instantly knows what could be the conundrum. "Lisa?" he reacts.

He enters their room and clears the smoke covering his sight. Lincoln then spots the source of the smoke: an Erlenmeyer flask with a boiling chemical under a Bunsen burner. He lowers the heat of the burner, which lessens the emission of smoke.

After solving a potential explosion, Lincoln suddenly steps on a plastic objects, which he discovers it to be Lisa's glasses. He then sees Lisa crawling on the ground, in search of her eyewear.

"Lisa, I think this is what you're looking for," Lincoln says as he gives Lisa her glasses.

Lisa puts on her glasses, restoring her vision. "Oh, such great relief. I thought I would stay visionless for a millennia. Thanks Lincoln!"

"Don't mention it, Lise."

Lincoln walks away from Lisa's room, resolving another conundrum. Taking his sight at the stairs, he sees Luna carrying her amps back to her room. She is about to lift the heaviest amp when Lincoln offers his assistance to carry it.

"Let me help you with that, Luna," Lincoln says.

"Bro, I'm fine here. Maybe you might…" Luna contends, but her brother nevertheless continues.

"Almost got it!" Lincoln remarks as he carries the amp to Luna's room. Due to the heavy weight, Lincoln gives his ultimate force to carry the amplifier, and is able to land it gently.

"There we go," Lincoln catches his breath, saying that.

"Wow, I've been carrying this thing from the porch. And I never knew you have enough muscles for it," Luna proclaims and gives him a hug, "Thanks Lincoln!"

"Anytime."

Lincoln then walks away from Luna's room, wiping his head from the sweat he attained on carrying Luna's amps. He soon encounters Lola and Lana grieving over their destroyed diorama.

Lincoln checks them out, "Hey Lana, Lola, what's going on?"

"Some bullies stomp our toy train set that we made," Lana sobbingly answers.

"We were supposed to have this enter in a contest for the best diorama in school. But they showed up, pushed us aside and stomped our train set," Lana adds with escalating emotions. "They're going to pay!"

"Wait, Lola. We can do something about this," Lincoln tries to pacify the twins.

"Oh yeah? What can we do about this?!" Lana angrily retorts.

Lincoln tries to come up with inventive ways to resolve Lana and Lola's project. Finally, he recalls a similar project he had when he was little. "Hey, I got it! Just stay right there guys."

Just after he recalls, Lincoln rushes to the attic and searches for his old train set that he built when he was 6. He is able to find its disassembled pieces and takes the unused sets and an unused, half-built diorama board (conveniently enough) to replace the broken pieces.

"Here guys. Some pieces that I didn't used for the old train set I made," Lincoln bequeaths his spare models to Lana and Lola.

Lana checks them out, looking amazed at the miniature models that Lincoln actually. "These look neat, Lincoln!" she comments. But Lola is skeptical. "Wait, how do we know these are not the same stuff you used before? Because it's against the rules, you know?" she asks.

To verify it concretely to them, Lincoln shows them his old train diorama. "Because this is my old train model."

The twins get their jaws dropped on getting a glance on Lincoln's sophisticated train diorama. He tells its backstory, "Entered the same contest as yours. Me and dad worked hard for it. We got so into it that we made a hundred house models and human model. But we won 8th place." He continues, "For that, I give to you all the spare ones. What can you say?"

In gratitude of this offering, Lana and Lola hug their brother, "Thanks Lincoln! Let's go!" Then, the twins set off to remake their diorama.

Contented, Lincoln walks back to his room. That is until he encounters Leni, who is finding something.

"Hey Leni! What you up to?" Lincoln asks.

"Oh Lincoln! It's terrible. I lost my shades. Have you seen it?" Leni asks troublingly.

Obviously, Lincoln is aware for the fact that Leni always has her shades hanging by her head. So, he points them out, "Uhmm Leni, they are always by your hair. It's not lost."

After Lincoln points out its "whereabouts", Leni touches it to confirm it.

"Oh never knew it was there all along," Leni says, "Thanks Lincy!"

That was another case solved by Lincoln. All he has under his belt is to rest in bed. But once he enters his room, Lincoln encounters Lily playing with Bun-bun.

"Aww Lily, love to play with Bun-bun? Okay." Lincoln heartwarmingly utters to let Lily tug his favorite plush bunny toy.

He then lifts Lily under his care, cuddling her. "Hey Lily, you know some days have their toughest moments, but I'd rather make the best of it. It's not easy, you know. You just have to get a grip." Saying his thoughts to Lily sort of softens Lincoln's deepest moods. Of course, not being able to perceive yet of Lincoln's word, Lily responds with touching his face, before uttering her signature words, "Poo poo".

"Hey Lily, want a story?" Lincoln asks.

"Poo poo," Lily responds.

"Well, I got one." Right after then, Lincoln narrates his own story.

"Once, there's a mighty warrior named Abe. He is the bravest, most distinguished knight of his kingdom. He belongs to a family who don't get along that much. But he is loyal to them regardless. One day, the warrior was given five quests to complete. Naturally, being a might warrior, he accepted them with a whole heart. But never he knew the challenges that he is about to face. He was defeated by his own weaknesses. He was mocked for an accident he did not intend. He lost his mighty sword. He was embarrassed by his peers. And he fell into despair. But he never lost his heart. Until he arrives…"

Ending with that statement, Lincoln notices that the sky falls into a reddish hue. He witnesses shadows becoming sharper and the mood getting eerier. Nevertheless, he continues his story.

"…there, to remind of Abe's worst fears and failures. A phantom with the power to take someone life without noticing. A monster wrapped around in shadows and clothed in fear."

As he is about finish his words, Lincoln witnesses a shadowy figure emerging from the shadows of his window. It covers every hint of light with its ethereal claws and attempts to snatch Lincoln by his shadow.

"It is…" Before he can finish, Lincoln is dragged stalwartly by the shadowy figure known as The Wilkes. Lincoln tries to flee away but the figure is too strong for him to escape from. The figure drags him forcefully away from his house and to his keep, the underground.

Lincoln can only scream for help, but no one responds. "Guys help! Guys HELP! Lori! Leni! Luna! Luan! LYNN! LUCY! LANA! LOLA! LISA! LILY! MOM! DAD! ANYBODY!"

The Wilkes continue to drag Lincoln away from his house. It then transforms the house to a graveyard, where he sees the remains of his family are laid. Seeing the tombstones of his dear family severely devastates Lincoln that he can only weep in horror.

"You can never escape the clutches of who you really are!" the Wilkes hauntingly expounds, giving Lincoln glimpses of moments where he failed.

"Now, taste the wrath you deserve!" As he says his final words, the creature throws the poor boy into its mouth and is about to swallow him.

"Wait, no! Please! Give me a chance!" Lincoln pleads desperately with tears flowing from his eyes, "BRING MY FAMILY BACK! And I'll do everything! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

And upon his screaming, Lincoln wakes up to reality. It turns out that what happened was all a dream. He actually slept through telling Lily his story. And his fears from the day manifested to a nightmare.

He checks out his clock to see it is 1:00 AM. Obviously at this time, everybody is fast asleep. And his screaming only causes commotion.

Lori barges in the room. "Lincoln, what's going on?"

Instantly, Lincoln hugs his oldest sister and weeps at her. "Lori…Lori…" he sobs.

"Okay Lincoln? Lincoln?" Lori tries to stop her brother from weeping but he continues nonetheless.

Due to Lincoln's loud wailing, other sisters like Leni, Luna, Lynn and Lola wake up.

"Hey, what's going on?" Lynn asks.

"What's the hustle, dudes?" Luna adds.

"Some of us are trying to sleep here!" Lola replies.

"Yeah, we have to be early in the evening yesterday," Leni slurs.

Throwing away what dumb thing Leni said, Lori gets back to her sobbing brother, realizing that he woke up from a nightmare. "Hey! It's okay. It's just a nightmare. Whatever it is, it's not real," Lori sympathizes.

"You think so?" Lincoln sobbingly replies.

For an answer, Lori nods to him and continues to hug him. "Okay Lincoln, all of us need a good rest. You do too. Sweet dreams."

They then walk away from Lincoln's room, but not before calls them back again, "Wait, at least I need to know. Is everyone safe?"

Luna answers, "Bro, we're all safe in our beds."

"Well good to know," Lincoln hesitatingly responds.

"Lincoln, are you sure you gonna be okay?" Lori asks.

In tense situation, Lincoln sighs all of his fake assurances and admits through his facial expression that he is not really okay. His sisters notice this. As an effect, Leni asks, "Hey Lincoln, need someone with?" Realizing his utmost need, she then suggests, "Why don't you sleep with us?" And with all that, Lori, Luna, Lynn and Lola are all in agreement.

"Really guys?" the 11-year-old confirms, "But where will we sleep? Because this room ain't fitting for everyone and I don't think we fit in any of our rooms."

This causes the sisters to think of having a sleepover at the best place to have one: the living room. And with that, together with Luan, Lucy, Lana, Lisa and Lily, the Loud siblings gather their sleeping bags and pillows, and lay them in the living room. The sisters are giggling at each other as they gather.

"Guys, keep it down. Mom and dad are asleep. And we literally don't want to disturb them," Lori warns.

Luna directs her attention to Lincoln since he is positioned beside her. "Hey Lincoln, you been screaming at your sleep. You sure you been doing fine this whole time?"

"Yeah, Lincoln. Tell us. We might help," Lana motivates.

"You can tell us, Linc. We're family," Lola adds.

"Come on, don't let it be a buzzkill. Let's kill the buzz!" Luan jokingly implies.

"Well, if you have to know…" Lincoln then gets up to the couch and narrates his whole day that caused him his nightmares.

So, let us sum up what happened to him at school:

• He failed at a rope exercise in gym class.

• He botched a physics experiment that ruined other students' robotics projects.

• He lost his history research project.

• He and Clyde did a skit, only to embarrass themselves by leaning on wet paint.

• And he tripped over a pencil that ends up video recorded and ridiculed by the school.

And all of these are just the tip of the iceberg of fails that Lincoln committed academically and even personally. But this wreck of a day is instantly understandable for his sisters.

"…And probably that caused my nightmares. I was worried how I can move on. And the best way I can is to show my loyalty to you guys. That's probably the best thing I'm really good at. So, losing you guys worries me."

"Lincoln, why would you think of that?" Lori says assumingly.

"Recent ominous experiences could really trigger nightmares and worries," Lucy explains sulkily, "So dear Lincoln, don't ever embrace them. They are finished. Try to move on."

"Yeah, and we really appreciated you being loyal to us," Luan adds, holding a supportive Lily.

"But you have to really deal with your own life, bro," Luna reasons.

"Yeah, it's hard but we have to accept it," Lana and Lola add to Luna's defense.

"Just take it by the fist," Lynn boasts, raising her fists, "And I mean these fists."

"Just never occupy your cerebral cognizance thinking about our personal circumstances," Lisa expounds, "And by that, I mean 'do not worry too much'. It just adds to stressors."

"And as always, we'll always be there for you," Lori concludes.

"Wow, never expected this kind of support from you, guys," Lincoln feels amazed, relived and redeemed.

"Ohh, come on. Why wouldn't we?" Lola says.

And for that, Lincoln tearfully hugs all of them. "I love you so much, guys!"

In return, the Loud sisters accept and return Lincoln's hug. "We love you too, Lincoln!" In that moment, and for a couple of minutes, the Loud siblings serenade on their embrace.

However, Lincoln feels they are out of balance "Okay, guys. You can stop hugging now. I think we are gonna…" Just saying that makes the Louds lose balance from the couch and fall to the floor, which never pisses them. Instead, they just end up laughing.

Finally, the Loud siblings are able to get to rest. But Lincoln suddenly senses a presence approaching them. He recalls his nightmare about The Wilkes, where its first signs of its presence sum up from crimson hues and sharp shadows. That is what exactly happens. And sure enough, the shadow creature emerges from the dark and attempts to grasp Lincoln with its dark claws.

Though he is initially frightened, Lincoln recalls his sisters' support through voices in his head. Lincoln then stands boldly to the monster and confidently utters, "My sisters helped me get out of my worries. I will do this for them. I am not scared to confront my problems."

By that, the monster tries to take hold of Lincoln, to no avail. The 11-year-old utters it again, "I am not scared to confront my problems." He utters more, "I am not scared to confront my problems, my failures and my fears." Lincoln repeatedly utters them, weakening the monster. "I am not scared to confront my problems, my failures and my fears." And slowly, the monster completely emerges from the darkness to reveal its true size. Seeing it to reach a hundred feet, Lincoln starts to hesitate.

"You indeed faced your reality," it declares, "But I will return for you. You'll never escape my wrath." Just by that, The Wilkes clasps its hands and vanishes from Lincoln's sight. Lincoln feels relived from his encounter with the demonic figure. He never minds if it is real or not. What is important to him right now is he completely accepted his failures and fears, and commits to move forward, in spite of them. All the while, he is learning to accept reality and man up for the better.

After the monster's encounter, everything around him returns to normal. Lincoln checks back his sisters, only to see them sleeping. Feeling relived of their safety, Lincoln kisses them on the forehead, starting from Lucy, to Leni, to Lily, to Lola, to Lori, to Luan, to Lynn, to Lana, to Lynn, then finally to Lisa.

He returns on his spot and addresses his concluding statement to the readers, "Well, family. What more can you ask for? They are the best gift that anyone can receive. We may not have the perfect love that we can cherish, and trust me, none one but One can and I admire it, what matters is that we love and support each other. And I will do everything in life, for them. Well, not yet my stage, but lucky I know what to do. Besides, what else would I trade for the world?"

Upon saying that, Lincoln hears commotion from the neighbors. He takes a glance from the window to see that the Loud's next door neighbors, the Larks, have their lights on and are creating noise in the middle of the night. He can only see their activity from their silhouettes.

Ignoring them, Lincoln returns to his spot and gives his closing statement, "Well, we'll see. Good night to all!"


End file.
